Cellphones reshape Africa
Want to track an elephant on the plains of Kenya? Give it a cellphone. Researchers in Kenya and South Africa have begun using barebones cellphones in ruggedized cases to track elephants; the phones are strapped to the animals and call home hourly with their coordinates. The system has cut the cost of wildlife tracking by 60%. Phone-wielding elephants are just one way cellphones have changed the face of Africa, according to the Associated Press. Farmers who once had to rely on payphones to track down customers and teenagers in Togo have become dependent on cellphones, which now represent almost 75% of all new phone subscriptions in Africa. On a continent where landlines have long been costly and rare, cellphones have enabled communications and created an industry worth $25 billion, according to one service provider. Prepaid minutes have even become an alternate currency, since they can be transferred from one person to another via text. However, as with any boom, there's been a dark side to the cellphone's growth in Africa. Cellphone towers now mar the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and have had to be banned on cross-country buses in Nigeria, because highwaymen have used them to coordinate robberies.
[Via textually.org]
